Title: Strategies for and barriers to public adoption of fire safe behavior
Author: Hodgson, Ronald W.
Date: 1995
Source: In: Weise, David R.; Martin, Robert E., technical coordinators. The Biswell symposium: fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems; February 15-17, 1994; Walnut Creek, California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-158. Albany, CA: Pacific
Station ID: GTR-PSW-158
Description: A recent survey of people living in wildland-urban intermix neighborhoods in a portion of the Sierra-Cascade foothills identified perceptions of defensible space that block its rapid and widespread adoption. A companion survey described communication channels used by residents to acquire information about landscaping and identified opinion leadership characteristics. Neither lack of awareness of the wildfire threat, lack of basic knowledge of defensible space, nor skepticism about defensible space effectiveness were a barrier to adoption of wildfire defenses by property owners. Perceived costs and labor requirements, lack of specific knowledge about how to do the required work, lack of time or assistance to do the work, and the difficulty of disposing of large amounts of brush generated in the initial conversion to defensible space were serious barriers. Biomass harvesting was experimented with to dispose of brush and to cover some of the costs of initial conversion. Social marketing and community organization methods were used to promote and carry out the project. The approach proved effective. Results showed excellent promise for the use of biomass harvesting in thickly settled subdivisions.
Keywords:
View and Print this Publication (29 KB)
Publication Notes:
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
- You may send email to pubrequest@fs.f
ed.us to request a hard copy of this publication. (Please specify exactly
which publication you are requesting and your mailing address.)
Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility
Citation
Hodgson, Ronald W. 1995. Strategies for and barriers to public adoption of fire safe behavior. In: Weise, David R.; Martin, Robert E., technical coordinators. The Biswell symposium: fire issues and solutions in urban interface and wildland ecosystems; February 15-17, 1994; Walnut Creek, California. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-158. Albany, CA: Pacific .